Pedaling Jesus

Cycling enthusiast takes her faith on the road

Athens cycling enthusiast Mary Grant: Remember what the Bible says: The first shall be last.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY GRANT

What would Jesus ride? Mary Grant
doesn’t hesitate. “Since he traveled so much, he would
certainly ride a road bike,” she answers. “Of course,
Israel also has mountains.”She might have said “cross bike,”
a hybrid design that blends mountain and road models but is known
by aficionados for doing nothing very well. No matter. It’s
clear that Grant wants a big bicycle shop where everyone is
welcome. The Athens cycling enthusiast is organizing
the first Illinois chapter of Wheel Power, a Christian lay ministry
whose members evangelize on two wheels and under their own power
— with a bit of help from the Lord above. During a two-day venture on Oct. 22 and 23,
Grant took 11 seventh- and eighth-graders on a 30-mile ride from
Athens to Rochester, spent the night at a Methodist church, then
returned the next day — after services, of course. There were
no mishaps, and everyone completed the journey, even though some
rode on single-speed bikes that weren’t designed for anything
longer than a jaunt around the neighborhood. “It was a
miracle to me,” she says. “It is not a race. Remember
what the Bible says: The first shall be last.”There’s a lot of fun in Grant’s
fledgling ministry, an offshoot of Wheel Power, which is based in
Virginia and got its start in 1993. Wheel Power organizes rides
that take members on rides long and short, including journeys
across the nation. After a dozen years and an estimated 2 million
miles traveled, there’s never been a serious car-bicycle
accident. “It’s the grace of God, that’s for
sure,” she says. “We do everything we can to be safe.
We do everything we can to follow the rules of the road.”Although the Bible was written thousands of
years before the invention of the bicycle, Grant sees many
parallels between Scripture and Schwinns. Take, for instance,
Ephesians, chapter 6, in which the prophet Paul talks about the breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith,
and helmet of salvation. Grants cites the passage when she talks to
Christian groups about bicycling. “There’s just a whole
list of things Paul says,” she says. “We always, always,
always wear a helmet. There’s one part in there that says you
have to have a loin-skirt of truth. Those Lycra bicycle shorts that fit
so tight, they definitely reveal the truth.”As an experienced cyclist, Grant knows that
bicycles break down barriers. Strangers who wouldn’t look
twice at someone who arrives at a grocery store in an automobile
will ask bicyclists where they’re from, where they’re
going, and how they travel each day. “There’s no car
windows to roll down,” she says. “On a bike,
you’re open, you’re accessible. On street corners,
Laundromats, grocery stores, we’re not confrontational.
We’re just there, and we can talk. We’ve never had
people give us a negative reaction. We find a lot of people want to
talk about spiritual things, but they would not go to a church to
ask questions.”Grant, who says she has “only
three” bicycles, first rode with Wheel Power members in
southern Illinois last year when they came through while riding
across the country. Since then, she’s been on Wheel Power
rides in Florida, Virginia, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
She’s now the group’s youth-ministry director and plans
to lead a ride across Illinois for teens next year. A former special-education teacher, Grant
takes particular joy in taking folks with autism and other
disabilities on tandem bicycle rides so that they can feel the wind
and pedal at their own pace without fear. “They get so
excited,” she says. “They get on a bicycle for the
first time, and you can see them just having the time of their
lives.”

For more information, contact Mary Grant at 217-636-8186 or Wheel Power at info@wheelpower.org.